Issue Position: Childcare and Early Child Education

Issue Position

Provide greater access and affordability for early childhood education and care.

Incentivize onsite childcare facilities at businesses in our state through tax credits.

Fully-fund universal pre-k for Hawaii's working families.

Create a grant program for teachers who receive a degree in early childhood education at the University of Hawaii system and commit to stay in Hawaii and teach at an Executive Office of Early Learning preschool.

Create dependent care flexible spending accounts for private workers to have the benefit of using pre-tax dollars for dependent care expenses which is currently only available to public employees.

As a mother of two I understand the importance and am a strong advocate for early childhood education. An area that needs to be addressed is the access and the cost of childcare and early childhood education. For many families childcare is one of their biggest expenses after their rent or mortgage, and for some the top expense. According to PATCH in 2019 the average cost of childcare per child in Hawaii is around $14,000 a year per child. This is an area that desperately needs to be addressed in order to help our local families with the high cost of living.

I have introduced legislation to create dependent care flexible spending accounts for private workers. Currently, only state employees have the benefit of using pre-tax dollars for dependent care expenses and I believe that the privilege of doing so should be extended to all taxpayers in Hawaii. I also would support increasing the existing flex spending amounts for state and city workers.

Employers should receive a tax credit for providing on-site childcare. I have introduced legislation many times, most recently in this year's legislative session to provide businesses tax credits for on-site childcare. Businesses should be rewarded for making childcare more convenient for working families and this legislation would help incentivize more businesses to create on-site childcare options. dependent care tax credit to help alleviate the high costs of childcare, preschool, and other expenses.

Increasing access to high quality preschool and childcare is a top priority. As the mother of a three year old and a six-month old, I know firsthand how expensive childcare is and how necessary it is in order for my husband and I to support our family and dedicate adequate time to our careers. I've introduced or signed onto dozens of pieces of legislation relating to preschool and childcare and have been a consistent supporter of organizations dedicated to this cause.

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